QotD: Annoying Slang: FTW!
Which popular slang expression drives you nuts?
Some people may not consider it a slang expression, but I do, especially in this context. The term I loathe to hear as often as I do is: "ghetto." Particularly out of the mouths of white people. I'm sorry (or to be frank, I'm really not sorry at all), but there is no way this term escapes a white person's lips without bearing the weight of racist overtones.
I bounced this idea off of someone else recently to see if I'm just being nitpicky/persnickety/overly sensitive/[insert dismissive phrase here]. Granted, I could've cast a wider net and talked to more people about it before posting, but since this Vox QOTD came up yesterday, I figured I might as well get this off my chest and onto the chest of my inferiors. Simpsons reference. And no, I'm not being touchy about this, so if you're not ready for some tough love, just click on that Back icon in the upper left-hand corner of your screen. It's about to get all racial up in this piece.
White people. Please, pull up a chair. ::pats cushion:: I know I count some of you as friends, buddies, acquaintances, cronies, etc. So I say this with as much patience as I can possibly muster. Your use of the term "ghetto" is 99.5% of the time completely f#!ked up and offensive.
Why, you ask. Allow me to break it down for you.
Let's set aside the fact that most of you wouldn't know a real ghetto if it fell out of the sky and started to wiggle on your lap. The most salient issue concerning your use of the slang term involves your egregious application to anything remotely associated with African-American (and to a lesser extent, Latino-American) culture. Cadillac Escalades are ghetto. Tyler Perry movies are ghetto. Kool-aid is ghetto. Bad credit is ghetto. And so on, ad nauseam.
And none of these are in any way an expression of anything truly "ghetto." This leaves me to conclude that the majority of you who enjoy throwing the term into your everyday speech so haphazardly have no clue as to what it truly refers to. Yes, the term was borne from the strictly segregated Jewish enclaves of Eastern Europe that were little better than a concentration camp, but we all know that in the modern U.S., this connotation no longer dominates our cultural psyche. No, instead, it's the image of the predominantly African-American neighborhoods populated with more liquor stores and 7-11s than banks, parks, and supermarkets. It's identified as sections of any major city overrun by gang bangers, prostitutes, and corner drug dealers; the places were you rush to lock your car doors as you drive through because you're certain that if you don't, you'll be yanked from your Ford Taurus, thrown to the ground, bludgeoned within an inch of your life, and left for dead.
And guess what? That is a ghetto. But that is NOT North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Reseda, West Adams, Panorama City, Northridge, Inglewood, etc. When I first moved to L.A., I slept on my uncle's couch for a month while searching for a room to rent. I quickly found this new condo-owner in Reseda on Craigslist, and she invited me to stop by and take a look. When I mentioned it to my uncle, he told me that a lot of people say that Reseda's the ghetto. Well, after driving around the area for a bit, let's just say that if Reseda's a ghetto, L.A. residents need to keep their asses in California because they have severely lost perspective with the rest of America.
Ghetto =/= working class neighborhood. Ghettos are severely economically depressed areas often inhabited by members of a specific ethnic group. And believe it or not, those ethnic groups can be and are Latino, White, Asian-American, Arab-American, and Native American, as often as they're Black. Never seen an Asian-American ghetto? I have a buddy in Houston who would be happy to point them out to you anytime you want to stop by for a visit. Check the U.S. map for any major cities in Western Kansas known for their slaughterhouses. They're certain to have quite a few. Hey, they may not be American, but feel free to venture up to Vancouver. There are plenty of CBCs* living in ghetto neighborhoods up north.
Personally, I view ghettos as areas hit extremely hard by the economy in a country where the government doesn't give a shit about anyone living there who isn't white and middle-class to help rectify the situation. These areas deserve our help, not our disdain. But hey, that's just my conscience talking. Please feel free to continue the elitist wankery. I wouldn't want you to feel any less enlightened than you've already convinced yourself that you are.
***
Okay, so let's set aside that reality for a moment. I know how uncomfortable it makes some of you. The most important fact I want to make clear with this slang term is this: Ghetto =/= anything that isn't middle-class Anglo-American approved. It is when this usage creeps into polite conversation it conjures racist overtones. I had a particularly interesting weekend where I found myself in a number of conversations with people I either didn't know or only knew as an acquaintance. And in 3 of these conversations, I heard a white person use the term "ghetto" in a derogatory and/or slanderous manner. I'll only address 2 of those instances here because I'm still deconstructing the third.
The first semi-pleasant conversation came to a brief halt while I was speaking to a young, white, Jewish male at my favorite coffee stand in NoHo. We'll call him Ben. Ben and I were talking about, among other things, the lack of clubs in the NoHo area. I said that I'm kinda glad there aren't that many because the last thing I want to see is NoHo turned into a wannabe-Silverlake/Los Feliz. Goodness knows they're trying to do just that. ::shudder:: But then I asked young Ben:
Me: What ever happened to the Bank Heist around the corner? That club that was open for a minute.
Ben: I heard it attracted the wrong kind of crowd.
Me (bracing myself): What do you mean?
Ben: I heard that a lot of ghetto people started showing up.
Me (mentally counting to 10): That's odd. This doesn't seem the kind of area that would attract a crowd like that.
Ben: I know, but maybe it's because there's so few good clubs in the Valley.
Did I stop and correct Ben about the number of clubs in the Valley, particularly how there are considerably more than he thinks? No. Did I stop and tell him that there's plenty of places that truly ghetto folks would love to hang and it isn't anywhere near the NoHo Arts District? No. Did I explain to Ben that my interpretation of the slang term was clearly different from his because no one who would ever describe themselves as ghetto would be caught dead at the Bank Heist? No.
Why? One: I'm a coward. And I try to avoid conflicts, especially face-to-face ones. Two: I'm too nice. Believe it or not, my contrary nature is often offset by my desire to not hurt people's feelings, even when they need to put their egos aside and be schooled on their possibly unintentional asshat behavior. Three: Educating privileged white folks about their racism is a full time job foist upon people of color (POC) that tires us to the point of exhaustion on a daily basis. We have to pick and choose our battles every time we engage anyone who is not a member of our own ethnic community. And the higher POC move up the social ladder, the more often we are saddled with the imposition of #3.
Listen. I sincerely doubt the folks partying at the Bank Heist were ghetto at all. He or his friends or [insert white hipster/yuppie/jackass] probably walked into the club, saw that the white folks chilling there did not significantly outnumber the POC -- it seems that anything less than 8 to 1 causes alarm -- and labeled the venue as GHETTO. I'd wager good money that this person or persons didn't observe any ghetto behavior, slang, style, etc. And here's the tricky part: "ghetto" is ALL about behavior. It's the only way you can label anyone as such. If you would label both Lil Kim and Ashanti as ghetto, you don't know what the hell you're talking about. If you think both Jay-Z and Kanye West grew up in similarly ghetto nieghborhoods, you don't know what the hell it is. If your white male neighbor blasts music at 2 am on a late Saturday night and you label him "an asshole," but when your black male neighbor on the other side blasts music at 2 am on a late Saturday night and you label him as "ghetto," you not only don't know what you're talking about, you're a racist dipshit who needs to check him/herself.
No, I won't sit here and delineate everything that deserves to be labeled "ghetto" and "not ghetto" because I haven't the time and Marlon and Shawn Wayans already did that. But let me say this, when POC, particularly African-Americans label someone as ghetto, it is by and large a reference to that person's behavior. I like to call it, "Now, you know your Mama raised you better than that" behavior. It's roughly the same POV that most white folks have of, dare I say it, rednecks, shitkickers, good ole boys, and poor white trash. (And no, those groups are not the same thing.) It's a term used to refer to people who are thought to have no class. Please note, I didn't say lower class or low class, I said no class. Toby Keith is as redneck as the day is long, but Toby Keith is richer than anyone reading this blog right now. Jay-Z was born and raised in New York's Marcy Projects, but Jay-Z can buy and sell everything you own fifty times over. Your income does not determine whether or not you're ghetto, your behavior does.
And I'm not sure if white people who use the term with abandon to describe anything related to working class people and African-Americans know this. I once heard Amy Sedaris refer to using a teaspoon to curl your eyelashes as "kinda ghetto." What? Seriously? Okay, I adore Amy, but someone needed to hip check her on that one. Again, working class is not the same as abject poverty, and having the common sense not to blow money on an unnecessary beauty device when you have a reasonable, convenient alternative is not ghetto. I'll take frugal or cheap, but not ghetto.
***
The second instance where the slang term "ghetto" made me bristle as it spewed from the mouth of a white person occurred on Sunday. Briefly, during a friendly conversation, I was asked which dance classes I'm currently taking during the week. I replied one Hip Hop class on Saturday and 2 Jazz classes on Wednesday. This somehow prompted the question of whether I ever have to do a move or step often referred to as poppin' (not to be confused with the breakdance move) in my Hip Hop class. I said yes, if the number calls for it. Then, in a moment of confusion that I'm still trying to decipher, I hear in a derogatory tone that that move is "ghetto."
Pause. Scratch head.
Um, wasn't Hip Hop borne from the streets of New York ghettos in the late 1970s? Wasn't Hip Hop used as a way for people raised in the slums and ghettos of New York and New Jersey to express themselves about their environment? Isn't it continually used all over the world as a means to communicate the same frustrated and passionate experiences shared by those who live or lived in similar environments? Thus my confusion. Why is a dance form created by those who live in the ghetto, set to music created by those who were raised in the ghetto (some of them, not all obviously), somehow derided for being "ghetto." That's like saying, "I can't stand the Polka. It's just so Slavic."
Then, in the next breath, the same person expressed an appreciation for Krumping. ::long sigh:: Why do white people who seem cool always have to harsh your squee with such ass-backward-ness?
Did I tell him that the poppin' move is one of the first steps you learn in Clown Hip Hop and Krumping? No. Did I ask him how he could have contempt for a "ghetto" dance move, but appreciate Krumping, another dance form created in the ghettos of South Central Los Angeles? No. So what did I do? I mentioned that I was interested in Krumping as well, but I felt that I better start off on something a little more generic. I also pointed out that Miss Prissy from the Rize documentary teaches classes at my dance studio in NoHo on Thursday and Sundays. Then the subject was changed.
See my previous mentions of cowardice, kindness, and battle strategy.
Yes, poppin' is a ghetto move. And when executed well, it can light up a Hip Hop routine. It can also be worked seamlessly into a Jazz, African, Tap, Afro-Fusion, Burlesque, and Latin Ballroom performance. It's not inherently bad or vulgar. I understand the incessant appearance in booty shakin' rap videos may lead you to believe otherwise, but again, I think that interpretation carries the same racist overtones reminiscent of a time when Rock 'n Roll was called "jungle music" and Jazz music was banned from radio programs because it led to the "corruption of youth."
If you've never seen poppin' done right, check out this dude on YouTube. I don't know many women who can move that well, even at DR's dance studio.
ETA: Damn. Sugar Britches removed his video from YouTube. For anyone who didn't get to see it, he was really something else. Oh well. I'll leave the video code embedded just in case he decides to make a comeback. In its place, I'll use this example from one of the gazillion contest entries for the "Pop, Lock and Drop It" online video competition that Huey ran a year ago. If you don't know what I'm talking about, consider yourself blessed.
Anyway, here's one of the better entries. This sister really put her thing down. I'm going to play the envy card and say it's the sneakers on the carpet floor that helped her out. In an alternate universe, I'm just as good. Anyway, for a proper example of poppin' (or booty poppin', as it is sometimes called in its unabbreviated form), pay close attention to the vid between the 13-15 second mark.
So take that move and watch it go from poppin to krumping to poppin around the 44 second mark in this vid:
Again, I'm just a little confused how you can find the first vid dance unseemly, but the second vid dance makes you want to take lessons.
In the end, I know I can't stop anybody from saying anything they want to say. But by the same token, no one should be allowed to silence my protest as I'm subjected to ignorance and prejudice. I think what it boils down to is this: Are these people bringing enough positives to offset the negatives? In other words, do I really want to have a relationship with someone who maligns my culture, while in the same breath claims to be my friend. My 31 years of experience tells me the answer will be "no." I have to put up with family and work colleagues who let their bigotry show when you least expect it, but I shouldn't have to put up with friends who do the same. In that area of life, you have more of a choice.
I guess we'll see what comes of it.
* Canadian-Born Chinese
Comments
You know Bank Heist burned down right? The key to bars/clubs in this afrea, hell in any part of L.A., is to frequent them before the word gets out how fun they are. My bf and I celebrated his bday at one such club (which I will not be posting the name of on the web to protect it for as long as possible, but I will tell you the name of in person if asked) and had a great time. But, it's only a matter of a few months more before it's no longer as fun.
How would you succintly describe an area like Reseda (which I will fully admit to not liking and having no interest in visiting again) or parts of Inglewood to describe the working-class feel? Working-class can be quite a mouthful.
I would simply call Reseda a working-class neighborhood. Same as Inglewood. I could see blackfolks calling Inglewood "the 'hood," which some people -- esp. white people -- would say is the same thing as the ghetto, but they're not. Inglewood has sections that are clearly lower middle-class, if not simply middle class. Homes and business that look like Average-Joe Middle America. And it has areas that are working class, where the economy has hit them harder than others, but are no means hot beds of violent crime and substandard living. These descriptions are apt. And they're not anywhere near the level of a ghetto. Not even close.
For instance, when I took my mother down to Watts to see the Towers, it was pretty obvious that this area had been gutted by the economy. I didn't see any prostitutes or gang bangers, but I saw homes where it was clear that the only thing holding them together and making them presentable was the love and care of the homeowner. Watts has a 22% unemployment rate. During the height of the Great Depression, the U.S. only had a 25% unemployment rate. The average L.A. city or community has a 7% unemployment rate.
I live in Van Nuys. Right up the street from Reseda. You can drive from Van Nuys to Reseda and never know you crossed the town line until you looked up and noticed so many storefronts in Spanish. Graffiti on a wall does not make a town the ghetto. Perhaps working class is a mouthful because so many people in this country are working class. I don't have the figures in front of me, but I doubt that Reseda has a 22% unemployment rate.
Preferring to stay out of a neighborhood doesn't make it a ghetto. Hell, I prefer to stay out of Silverlake and Brentwood, but that doesn't make either a ghetto. But it has a huge Latino and Thai population and black faces are not always welcome. I honestly feel that if anyone would describe Reseda as a ghetto, they clearly have no idea what a ghetto is. There isn't shit going on there that isn't going on in Studio City, Valley Village, or Venice.
For instance, this example - "Graffiti on a wall does not make a town the ghetto." , I might call that neighborhood ghetto if it's riddled with graffiti and trash in the streets. But, by that I just mean it's tacky, and there are residents with no regard for the value of their neighborhood or consideration for others. (I refuse to acknowledge graffiti as art if it's straight up vandalism). Of course that's a simplistic explanation, but it's just simpler to say "It's Ghetto" than to say the more verbose, "That's a neighborhood where many working-class, well-meaning, underprivileged people live where the streets are littered with trash and the walls covered with graffiti due to the actions of some wayward, unencumbered by the values of social-consideration folks...". :) It's just easy. Also, I am a little bit of a snob, so that probably has something to do with it. heh.
You feel unwelcome in Silverlake?
FTR, I can't stand how many guys call each other "Bro" or "Brother" these days. "Duuuude, what's up bro?" "What's going on, bro?"
Yes, I acknowledged in my post that the original meaning of ghetto has lost its connotation over time, but what I don't understand is when did neighborhoods only have 3 label options: upper class, middle class, and ghetto. My problem is that some people seem to insist that anything not upper or middle class is ghetto, and anything predominantly African-American or Latino is ghetto. Both are wrong. The first is classist and the second is racist. And often in our country, they go hand-in-hand.
Of course that's a simplistic explanation, but it's just simpler to say "It's Ghetto" than to say the more verbose, "That's a neighborhood where many working-class, well-meaning, underprivileged people live where the streets are littered with trash and the walls covered with graffiti due to the actions of some wayward, unencumbered by the values of social-consideration folks...".
Why not simply call it a neighborhood? I guess what I don't understand is this overwhelming desire that people have in insisting that they're better than this group of people over here. Maybe that's where the disconnect is. For some reason, I seem to attract snobs in many areas of my life, and it forces me to question why that is. Is it because they think I'm a fellow snob? Is it because of the way I carry myself? The way I dress? Speak? Are my name-brand-sneakers-bought-on-sale and banged-up 5-yr-old Saturn sending mixed messages?
Ever since middle school, high school, and my entrance into my chosen profession, snobby people seem to be everywhere I look. (Thank God, I went to a small HBCU so I escaped many of those attittudes in college.) I feel like I'm constantly surrounded by people who are always looking down on someone because of their gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, economic class, etc. And 99.9% of the time, I don't share their beliefs.
Why do you feel the need to label any neighborhood with graffiti and random trash here and there a ghetto? Does it make you feel better about yourself? Do want them to mimic your neighborhood because you feel it's a better example of how everyone should live and take care of their home? Do you feel like you're better than the people who live in Reseda?
I know it sounds antagonistic, but I really want to know. I don't get this. I am by no means perfect, and I can't say I've never judged anybody. Perhaps it's the fact that I'm a white-collar worker from a largely blue-collar family, but I find it upsetting that people who were born into a certain class adopt a holier-than-thou POC about others who were born into another. And most members of the upper and middle class exhibit the exact same behavior as members of the working and lower class. Do you see the conundrum?
I can't say I feel unwelcome in Silverlake, because I don't think the people who live in Silverlake would ever have the balls to tell me that I'm not welcome there. It would make them appear racist, and they wouldn't want anyone to think that about them. Appearances are very important. (No, I'm not being facetious. I know that appearances are important.)
But no, I don't feel comfortable at Silverlake at all. Nor parts of Atwater Village or Los Feliz. I clearly don't fit in there, and it makes me uncomfortable to spend anything more than one evening there with friends, say for an event like a UCB show or a get-together at a buddy's house. I would never intentionally hang out there. There seems to be only one acceptable POV amongst residents and if you share it, you'll enjoy your time there. But if you don't, you'll be miserable. I don't want to hang out in any area where I have to be fake the whole time. It's exhausting and makes me feel like I need a shower afterwards.
If someone asked me, "Hey, what do you think of Panorama City?" I would have to give a description of the neighborhood. I would describe it as crowded, with many run-down homes, shopping centers and apartment buildings, many parts of it aren't well-kept, an overabundance of liquor stores and a higher crime-rate than other parts of L.A.. It's about the environment, not the people who live there and how hard they do or don't work, or any feelings of superiority over them. Otherwise, I don't just haphazardly go around labeling and ranking neighborhoods, lol.
"Why do you feel the need to label any neighborhood with graffiti and random trash here and there a ghetto? Does it make you feel better about yourself? Do want them to mimic your neighborhood because you feel it's a better example of how everyone should live and take care of their home? Do you feel like you're better than the people who live in Reseda?"
The only time I would label a neighborhood is if asked to describe it. If you asked me if I would want to live in Reseda, I'd say no and tell you why. Not because I feel better than any of the residents, but it's not a neighborhood I would feel safe in or would like the ambiance of. I prefer to live in a neighborhood that is clean and safe and well-maintained. I don't feel that has anything to do with feelings of superiority, but rather a matter of what makes me happy and makes me feel pride in my surroundings. I don't want to live somewhere that I constantly feel at odds with the residents way of living. Where I have to fight an ongoing battle to get people to put trash in the dumpsters instead of on the street or save their drawings for the canvas instead of a building that hasn't given them permission. I've lived in all kinds of neighborhoods (except I guess the "highest" class) and have to come know where I feel comfortable living. But, I don't look down on people that don't live like I do because either their preferences or circumstances are different. When I would visit my "little sister" in Panorama City I didn't turn my nose up at her and her family or their apartment. They seem happy there and good for them. It's just not for me. Some people may not feel that Valley Village, where I live, is where they feel comfortable and that's fine for them as long as they aren't turning there nose up at the residents.
In the end, it doesn't matter what I or anyone else calls a neighborhood, it's not the words, but the intended meaning behind the words. A person will feel free to infer whatever meaning they want to the words of others. For the record, I make a concerted effort to not use the word ghetto, just because it's just too messy a word. But, occasionally I may use the term ghetto around a friend who knows what I mean when I say it because it's quick and I don't have to go into long description of what of I mean. They'll know that I don't mean it as way to feel superior to others, because that's not who I am.
"Perhaps it's the fact that I'm a white-collar worker from a largely blue-collar family, but I find it upsetting that people who were born into a certain class adopt a holier-than-thou POC about others who were born into another. And most members of the upper and middle class exhibit the exact same behavior as members of the working and lower class. Do you see the conundrum?"
Yep, it bothers me too.
Wow, I haven't had a problem in Silverlake or Los Feliz. But, I like the eclecticism and rich history of Silverlake and Los Feliz. Now, Newport Beach? Don't get me started.
I think it all depends on personal experiences.
Damn thats good, and so true! Here in Toronto, similar things happen, cept not so...I don't know, people at most ends here are open minded as far as I see. But yeah, and the exchange happens between 'wiggers' too. It's annoying, but hey, maybe that "ignorance is bliss" thing is working out for them.
i have no idea how i wound up here reading your blog...i don't even remember honestly how i got here.
but i never really noticed how often people (including myself) use the term "ghetto" to describe things in every day situations. hmm. thats all i'll say on that! but very eloquent post.
I always get this crazy wish to show anyone who says "ghetto" a picture of an original ghetto. You know, the Nazi kind. That would shut them and their annoying ghetto-usage down, I'm sure. (But now I think I'd rather just show them this post, it does the job so much better and nicer.)
Anyway, thanks for a great and informative and helpful and insightful post. As for the dance videos, I would guess that the reason the second one strikes so differently is that they look like their having fun. Who doesn't want to have fun? I do! I do! The first dancer looks like she's on a mission to do ... something. But it doesn't look like fun. It's impressive and energetic - but not fun.
On the other hand, the last dance I successfully learned and performed without falling down, tripping someone else or spraining something was the polka. My observation may not count for much.
I liked the way you put this together. When I first saw the title and the beginning I was thinking 'oh great, here's an African-American woman talking about us crackers being racist'.... But when I read more than two sentences, I understood your point better and also your point of view...
While on the subject of slang that people hate... Cracker is a very stupid word. (not that I'm insinuating you USING the word but, just something I find similar.)
I have a black friend named Johnny. He always calls people crackers but then when you call him BLACK, he freaks.... I always think it's a total double standard. I don't want to tell people they have to call me Swedish-Caucasian-American, but if you want to be treated special, you shouldn't be the one being EXTRA special if you know what I mean.
Chris Rock bothers me. In his last comedy special, it was ALL about duh duh duh DAA WHITE PEOPLE. That was pretty ridiculous. Usually, I like his comedy as a little racist joke is funny sometimes, especially when they're true. Like redneck jokes and hick jokes.... Norwegian, Polish.... Things like that.... But I have to say, he went REALLY over the top. The only thing I can remember from the special was talking about drugs. Something about 'White people can bring in ANY drugs they want, weed, pills, METH, but when a brotha bring in some cocaine, it's a huge thing...' This is not verbatum, don't get me wrong, but I hate that everything in that specail was basically blamed on white people.
We get discriminated against as well. I felt it was a little discriminating to say "Let's set aside the fact that most of you wouldn't know a real ghetto if it fell out of the sky and started to wiggle on your lap" Please don't think I'm saying that it was wrong to say, as you are right. Many people I know think that Maple Grove in Minneapolis is a 'ghetto' or Brooklyn Park, Nicollet Ave. All of which are places I've lived and have family.
I do NOT know how it is to live in a true ghetto, nor am I really for people using the word in MANY ways, but in the instance where people have 'NO CLASS' I believe it is okay... Sorry, this was longer than intended.
~Smitty (!)~
Aww, man. I wrote this hella-long reply to your post yesterday, and it looks like Vox eatededed it. Crap. Thanks Vox. That reply was insightful, thought-provoking, and could've earned me a Pulitzer in "Pontificating Drivel."
Anyway, I'll just take the time to say, are we still on for Saturday, or do you hate my guts now? I don't want you to be uncomfortable around me at the concert, and the last thing I want to do is make you feel defensive about your choices. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail when you get a minute.
I hope everything's still copasetic. At least until you give me your half of the money! LOL!! Then it's on like popcorn. :-P
Thank you for your nice comments on my post. I really wasn't expecting much feedback when I posted it. I appreciate your thoughts.
Actually, if you saw the first vid I put up (the one that's since been removed by the owner), you would have seen him perform the moves with just as much, if not more, energy and vitality as the kids in the last video. So I don't think whether or not the performer looks like they're having fun really plays into how the dance is vulgar and unacceptable in one instance, but an amazing addition to the world of dance in the next.
BTW, I think the woman in the second video was preparing an entry for a contest, so I can understand her focus. The kids in the last video were just fooling around with a camera for fun. Different circumstances breed different performances, but neither is worthy of criticism in terms of what is and what isn't an acceptable form of dance, which was kind of my point.
I don't know if I would agree with that Potty Mouth, but I won't deny you your experiences. (I'm not that arrogant, honest.) I don't know where you grew up, but today, in the U.S., the mention of a ghetto does not conjure up images of poor whites living in largely urban areas suffering through economic depression. When most Americans think poor whites, they think trailer parks or mobile homes, not ghettos. Even whites who were born and raised in the ghetto view them as hot beds of crime and deterioration consisting largely of residents who aren't of European descent.
So I don't think it's an issue of personal experience, not in the mainstream American context, which is where the usage becomes problematic. A racial connotation is certainly implied, whether or not it's intentional.
Thanks for your comments, Dai. My experience has taught me that most people are nearly as open-minded as they'd like to think they are. And certainly not nearly as open-minded as they want others to think they are.
Thanks for your comments. I appreciate you sharing them on my little rented space here. :-) (It's rented with ads, I don't actually pay them anything.)
Thoughtful and well executed. Thank you for sounding off.
Okay, I just had a flashback to my college days. :-) Professor Landy is that you?
Thanks for the thumbs up. I appreciate it.
Thanks, Miss Couture. I can't say I don't use the word myself, but I don't use it nearly as often as others. Nor do I apply it to anything and everything that doesn't scream "shiny" and "Middle America." Remember when there was a small backlash against the use of the word "gay" for anything that was wack, stupid, or tired. A lot of folks got up in arms about it being applied to everything they didn't consider acceptable, and many members of the LGBT community felt offended by the term's implied meaning.
Well, I remember a few online bloggers speaking out against that slang expression, some of whom mentioned that nothing like that exists for any other group of people. Some said that no one would ever think to use a word like that would be derogatory towards black people. And I was like, "Oh really?! Please, have a seat. Let me tell you about a little phrase I hear all the time."
I think some things become so mainstream that they become accepted without question because "Hey, everybody's doing it, so it can't be all that bad. Right?" I'm not trying to police language, and certainly not slang. I'm just wondering if people bother to pause and think about whether they're communicating something they don't want to say in the plain English because they know it wouldn't be socially acceptable. I guess that's what I'm getting at. It gets into this whole issue of Black vs. Acceptably Black. If I behave like this, I'm cool and I can be your friend, but if I behave like that, I'm "too black" for an acceptably public relationship. That's the kind of relationship I'm hoping to avoid.
I so appreciate your thought-filled post.
That act is ghetto.
Enjoying pork rinds is NOT ghetto. As a matter of fact, it is good and I am going to get some for lunch =).